After a wonderful field season in Interior Alaska it is time for me to part ways. Throughout the season I have contributed the majority of my time to an acoustic bat survey. The purpose of this survey was to identify the presence/absence of little brown bats in Interior Alaska. The project area was focused in the Fortymile area near Chicken, Alaska. It was a great opportunity to get out and see the beautiful landscape, and of course pick some wild blueberries. I also spent some time mapping and pulling invasive vegetation. The bat project required a fair bit of field time and we were constantly switching sites, which made it easier to survey a larger area for invasive plants.

It will be tough to leave BLM Fairbanks, AK as I have grown attached to the job, the people, and some of the delicious places to eat around town. I have had an amazing experience here and encourage anyone who gets the chance to work or visit Alaska definitely not pass up the opportunity.

Farewell,

Ryan

In the early part of July I spent some time at a mining reclamation site. Here I learned a little bit about the process of what goes into mining reclamation and I was also able to participate in that process. I helped out by spreading seeds of grasses that are native to the area, spreading straw over those seeds, and planting sedges to help prevent soil erosion. I also had the opportunity to talk with the folks who had been on the project throughout its entirety. They described what it was like when they first got to the mining site and showed us what changes had been made to help return the site to a natural area. While we were at the site we were told that a mama black bear and her cubs were in the area. Although we didn’t see the bears we did come across an osprey tending to its nest.

I spent the later half of the month prepping for my next trip out to check on the bat detectors. Hopefully the data cards that we will be collecting will have something exciting for us!

RC

Over the past month I have spent a great portion of my time out in the field trying to track down little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus). They are the only bat species thought to have a home range that extends as far as Central, AK. I am using several SMZC acoustic monitoring devices to determine the presence or absence of the species. The acoustic monitors are placed within a grid that has been created based on suitable habitats. A microphone is fastened atop a pole and the acoustic unit is strapped to a tree. The two are connected by a microphone cable.

Each unit is placed somewhere within the grid and is then left for a period of two to three weeks. The units automatically begin recording around dusk and stop recording in the early morning. During the recording time if a bat were to fly within range of the microphone an acoustic trigger would be tripped and the device would begin recording. The data cards are collected after the deployment period and the detectors are relocated. The data cards are brought back to the office and analyzed with an acoustic software.

RC